Official Tmobile-Sprint merger discussion thread

[bigsnake49]

23 minutes ago, PhillipJames89 said:

Makes sense. 

The other thing that makes it easier is that Boost has a completely separate accounting system than Sprint. Sprint prepaid separate from Boost I think gets serviced by the same accounting system as postpaid Sprint. Those people have to either be incorporated into the Boost accounting system and then the whole Boost accounting system gets transferred to Dish or if Dish gets its own accounting system separate from Boost's then they will have to be transferred separately to it.

BSS (Business Support Systems) continuity will be a critical part of the integration. For example T-Mobile's BSS would have to be modified to support Sprint plans so that when a customer is transitioned over, his plan follows him intact or he's offered a new plan that is similar but not identical to the old plan. I am sure that the T-Mobile business people have been looking at all Sprint's plans and devising how best to proceed.

[RedSpark]

"Soon" in T-Mobile terms is different than "Soon" in Sprint terms. 😎

[bigsnake49]

1 minute ago, RedSpark said:

"Soon" in T-Mobile terms is different than "Soon" in Sprint terms. 😎

They don't fart around, do they?

[RedSpark]

2 minutes ago, bigsnake49 said:

They don't fart around, do they?

It's going to take some getting used to, but I'm ok with it. 😉

[cyclone]

5 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

"Soon" in T-Mobile terms is different than "Soon" in Sprint terms. 😎

It's just an infographic. At the bottom it says "Be in the know Turn on push notifications and we'll let you know when you can sign in." Then gives you a link to adjust your notification settings to allow push notifications

[RedSpark]

Here's some news: https://www.cnet.com/news/new-t-mobile-ceo-sprint-users-can-still-keep-plans-after-merger/

Quote

 

Sprint users will be able to tap into T-Mobile's 4G LTE network today without having to do anything on their phone, with Sievert noting that the company is using roaming for LTE to "immediately add both coverage and capacity" for Sprint customers. 

For Sprint's 5G devices, a software update is coming to enable them to connect to T-Mobile's 5G networks. 

T-Mobile is also already deploying the newly acquired Sprint 5G spectrum (known as midband), which provides faster speeds than T-Mobile's low-band 5G network while still working indoors. 

Neville Ray, T-Mobile's president of technology, says that Philadelphia is the first city to go live, with others set to be turned on "rapidly" in the coming weeks. Every T-Mobile 5G device that the carrier has launched will be able to tap into the midband 5G once it's deployed.

 

Heck yeah!

 

[mdob07]

26 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

I figure somewhere in the country new equipment is being installed on T-Mobile sites for the former Sprint bands. That should tell us which markets will be converted first so keep your eyes open!!

I've found some permits here for installing hybrid cabling on T-mobile sites, but none of them have mentioned antenna or radio adds, yet. 

[RCM]

"Sprint users will be able to tap into T-Mobile's 4G LTE network today without having to do anything on their phone, with Sievert noting that the company is using roaming for LTE to "immediately add both coverage and capacity" for Sprint customers. "

How is that different than what's already been in place? 

[Yuhfhrh]

Still not able to roam on T-Mobile towers around here as of now. 311 490 still only being broadcast on a select few sites, and 310 260 not allowing access.

[clbowens]

Do you think TMobile will deploy B41 in rural areas also?  So 5G would be on B71 and B41?

[mikejeep]

A ton of B41 Sprint sites in my area (Boston suburbs) have started getting new GCIs over the past few weeks. My first thought was it was related to the merger, but that's just my speculation.. any thoughts?

[mdob07]

2 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

A ton of B41 Sprint sites in my area (Boston suburbs) have started getting new GCIs over the past few weeks. My first thought was it was related to the merger, but that's just my speculation.. any thoughts?

Does that line up with T-Mobile's GCI pattern there at all?

[Brad The Beast]

4 hours ago, Trip said:

dl_freq is the downlink frequency, not the TAC. 

Since the Internet seems to have no pictures whatsoever of what that screen looks like, I can't tell you what Apple might have called it.  If your part of the DC market is like mine and has moved to the T-Mobile TAC values, it should be something like 20234 or 20236.  Mine in Alexandria is 20243.  You get the idea of the range of values.

- Trip

They might not even have it in there. They don't have APN in there any more so I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't find TAC. 

[RedSpark]

10 minutes ago, Brad The Beast said:

They might not even have it in there. They don't have APN in there any more so I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't find TAC. 

According to @Trip I'm on a T-Mobile TAC for the DC Market: 20236

Once you're in Field Test, It's under LTE -> NAS -> tai_list (Thanks @cyclone!)

Edited April 1, 2020 by RedSpark
Added for clarity.

[Brad The Beast]

Just now, RedSpark said:

According to @Trip I'm on a T-Mobile TAC.

Once you're in Field Test, It's under LTE -> NAS -> tai_list

Ah, so they do let you look at it. 

[RedSpark]

T-Mobile has been switching the Sprint Executives over to new Social Media handles.

For example, John Saw is no longer @SprintCTO. He's now @JohnSaw: https://twitter.com/JohnSaw

Certain executive's accounts are no longer active. I can't tell if it's because they've been let go, or if they're in the process of reorganizing everything. I guess we'll see over time, but I imagine everything is getting an audit.

Social Media is something that T-Mobile always did better than Sprint. In fact, Sprint's efforts on Social Media were horribly disorganized and haphazard in my opinion.

[gusherb]

2 hours ago, dkyeager said:

I figure somewhere in the country new equipment is being installed on T-Mobile sites for the former Sprint bands. That should tell us which markets will be converted first so keep your eyes open!!

T-Mobile has been very busy in the Chicago area over the last year upgrading sites with Massive MIMO and B71, however in the last few weeks I saw two new macros pop up on the south side including one on a tower Sprint is on, plus others with B71 adds. Haven’t seen any evidence of B41 carrier adds to T-Mobile sites, but I’m assuming T-Mobile will just use what Sprint already has up to begin with and go from there. 

[mikejeep]

1 hour ago, mdob07 said:

Does that line up with T-Mobile's GCI pattern there at all?

The GCI and PCI are very different from the old values, and neither appear to match T-Mobile's patterns in this area, including some confirmed to be on the same tower. Interesting that it is only the B41 cells.

All of the Sprint TACs (including these new GCIs) in my area are still what they have been all along.

[Brad The Beast]

Sadly Apple has declared that there is no fun allowed and there's no field test mode on the iPad.

[RedSpark]

Here's the video of Mike Sievert's interview on CNBC from this morning: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/04/01/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-t-mobiles-new-ceo-mike-sievert.html

Transcript: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/01/cnbc-transcript-t-mobile-ceo-mike-sievert-speaks-with-cnbcs-david-faber-on-squawk-on-the-street-today.html

Quote

 

DAVID FABER: Mike, does the Sprint brand go away quickly here?

MIKE SIEVERT: The main brand obviously will be T-Mobile. And during the crisis here, we’re not going to make big changes. So, think about the summer time frame as being when we start to unify and market with all of our stores and all of our advertising and all our offers in a more unified way. Mid-summer, we haven’t picked a date yet. But that’s certainly always been our intention. That doesn’t mean the Sprint brand will go away completely. We haven’t made those decisions yet. The Sprint brand has an incredible legacy. But we believe that right now in wireless it makes all the sense in the world to unify under the T-Mobile brand. So, the company is called T-Mobile and the flagship brand of the company is called T-Mobile.

 

There's a lot more in that interview... He also talks about how T-Mobile will be able to safely continue tower work during this crisis.

[PhillipJames89]

6 minutes ago, RedSpark said:

Here's the video of Mike Sievert's interview on CNBC from this morning: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/04/01/watch-cnbcs-full-interview-with-t-mobiles-new-ceo-mike-sievert.html

Transcript: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/01/cnbc-transcript-t-mobile-ceo-mike-sievert-speaks-with-cnbcs-david-faber-on-squawk-on-the-street-today.html

There's a lot more in that interview... He also talks about how T-Mobile will be able to safely continue tower work during this crisis.

I guess Shentel will operate as is until then

[RedSpark]

I guess this means that Paul Marcarelli is out of a job again... 🙁

Backstory: https://www.fastcompany.com/3060648/how-sprint-got-verizons-can-you-hear-me-now-guy-to-change-teams

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/15/business/sprint-verizon-hear-me-now-paul-marcarelli.html

[PhillipJames89]

Looks like New T-Mobile 2.5 is turned on in philly.

[RedSpark]

3 minutes ago, PhillipJames89 said:

Looks like New T-Mobile 2.5 is turned on in philly.

The miracle of available capex....

[bigsnake49]

All of a sudden I got like 3-4 bars in a place in my condo that usually I get 1-2. But before I could enter into field mode it went back to the regular 1-2. Teasing me.

Edited April 1, 2020 by bigsnake49